Australia, New Zealand,and Fiji 2016: Australia

Today was an early start for breakfast with a departure from the hotel at 8 a.m., to head into the rain forest. We made our way to Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walkway. We went for about a 1-1/2 mile walk through the forest learning about the different types of plants while walking on a regular path, and elevated walkway and up into a tower which rose about 37 meters high, where we had a great view of our surroundings. One of the most interesting plants was the Gympie Gympie plant (bad, bad plant in English). This plant was hair-like barbs that go into your skin that emit neurotoxins and could take years before you can get rid of the side effects. Needless to say, we steered clear from those.

After the walk, we made our way a little further into the rainforest to Mangolli Falls, where they students learned how to make "Damper" a traditional bush bread eaten with butter and golden syrup (which was somewhat like a honey). They learned how to crack whips and also make billy tea. Unfortunately, it was rather rainy, which made some of the activities rather difficult. They learned a small bit about the way of life of people of the outback - particularly the cowboys - or jillaroos and jackaroos - or ringers. We had a little bit of time with one of the horses where the students who wanted to could get their picture taken with the horse near the waterfall.

From there it was back to the hotel - but only after watching one of the people we met at the falls was taking the horse back to his house when she broke loose and took off running down the road. The kids were a bit concerned that the horse was getting away, but she finally stopped and went back home.

From dinner - we were hosted by local Girl Guides. They made us a Mexican dinner with watermelon (which was cantaloupe) and ice cream. After dinner - they put on a quiz for us, breaking into 5 teams. A good time was had by all.